Habitat For Humanity Passive House event Sept 9th

Columbia County New York Habitat For Humanity (CCHfH) has a new project in Hudson-building two Passive Townhouses. Designed by ground-breaking green architect Dennis Wedlick Architect LLC (DWA), the Columbia Passive Townhouses at 244-246 Columbia Street in Hudson will be the first Habitat townhouses in New York to be constructed using passive energy design and engineering. This process can reduce external energy consumption by 90%. Something all homes need especially affordable housing.

I'll be performing at Club Helsinki Hudson, this Sunday September 9th during the Habitat For Humanity brunch 11:30-1pm. Dennis Wedlick lead architect for the project is the featured speaker and he will discuss the Passive Home process.

Ground breaking for the construction of the Columbia Passive Townhouses began Saturday September 8th.

photo from left to right: Seth Rapport, President of the Hudson Development Corp (donated one of the two parcels), Judith Nelson, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity New York State, Janis Smythe, President Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, Dennis Wedlick, Dennis Wedlick Architect, LLC, NY State Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, Don Moore, President, Hudson Common Council (donated the other parcel), Brenda Adams, Executive Director, Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, and Eileen Halloran, Treasurer, City of Hudson

• Where? 244-246 Columbia Street, Hudson, NY 

• Between September 2012- February 2013, there is a call for volunteers: Individuals, businesses, schools, faith-based groups or community organizations.

• To volunteer, call Volunteer Coordinator Julia Rubel at 518-392-2898 or email volunteer@columbiacountyhabitat.org.

• You can read an article about the project in the Times Union

 At a past CCHfH event where I performed, I was able to get a "What's Your Inspiration?" clip of Brenda Adams, executive director of Columbia County New York Habitat For Humanity.  What Inspires Brenda?

Blueberry Festival last Sunday in July

NYCSubwayGirl spends summer in Columbia County NY. One of the events I love to help out with is Austerlitz Historical Society's Blueberry Festival. I organize the Entertainment and engineer the live sound. It's a long day but always fun.

It's held annually on the last Sunday in July on the grounds of The Old Austerlitz Historical Society.

Hope to see you Sunday July 31st!  For more information and directions. 

Summer Is On

The past month has been pretty fun and interesting for NYCSubwayGirl

I met and jammed with musicians from Amsterdam in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and of course got a wonderful What's Your Inspiration? clip from them.  In halting English including no accent Billy responded "this might sound cheesy, but love." I met amazing Sustainability champion Roberto A. Sanchez who gave me such a succinct definition of Sustainability.

I had the chance to sing at a few weddings so far, one of them was for my cousin Michael who not only had the honor of marrying the wonderful Alex, but as Stage Manager of the hit Broadway Show Book Of Mormon, also became part of a Tony award winning team.  All in the same weekend.  How's that for a high time in your life!  Congratulations Michael and Alex.  They made a youtube clip of my singing La Vie En Rose for the first dance

It was rainy last weekend both for my Garden Party gig to benefit Spencertown Academy Arts Center and my visit to Bobby The Carriage horse, living happily at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in Chatham, NY. Here's a clip I made of Bobby's re-Birthday celebration. Bobby was rescued on June 25, 2010 by Equine Advocates and the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.  He was then shipped to Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary in Chatham, NY where he has been retired.

Of course the big news occurred Friday evening June 24th when the NY State Senate passed the Marriage Equality Bill 33-29 and then signed by Governor Cuomo. Congratulations to everyone on what I believe is the right side of history. To the others I say, in time like so many of our Country's 200+ years of history has shown, that we evolve.

On June 18th I performed at the 2nd annual Hudson Pride. Here's my blog about the day in Hudson, and some clips from my weekend.

My performance clip at Club Helsinki, and I am especially proud of a clip I made of Matthew Hamilton whose "I might be straight, but I'm not narrow" t-shirt prompted a fun exchange.  

Here's Matthew's "make it happen" clip

and event organizer Trixie Starr's What's Your Inspiration Clip.

Summer reading is also something I look forward to as I spend less time performing and more time being inspired by others and the countryside around me. I've already begun with these two:

Fellow Music Under New York performers, Heth and Jed Weinstein's book  Buskers: The On-The-Streets, In-the-trains, Off -the-Grid Memoir of two New York City Street Musicians (now that's 36 characters shy of a full tweet).

Margaret Roach "And I Will Find Some Peace In There." 

Why do these books resonate with me? With Heth and Jed's book, it's their life of discovering an underworld of possibility by performing in public spaces of NYC, something I know about intimately. And in Margaret's book, it's about following a passion begun by a single act of purchasing a weekend home, and then leaving a corporate job for the unknown adventure of living there full time surrounded by nature. My partner Michele and I bought and built on a piece of land in 2002, and this past month she left her corporate job of 14 years for the unknown.  Stay tuned.

Happy 4th of July weekend.  

Fall Colors up-state of bliss

I am writing from upstate NY where I've been all week.  The fall colors are amazing now finally transitioning from sharp fluorescent to muted golds and reds. I visited Equine Advocates a horse sanctuary as a guest of author and animal rights angel, Elizabeth Hess. And then on to Spruce Ridge Farm an Alpaca farm, to film clips for my Art For Animals benefit concert November 19th in Hudson, NY (I'm sharing the stage with Laurie Anderson, Joy Askew and Ruth Reichl will be curating food for the cocktail party beforehand). I plan on performing to a clip I'm creating featuring people and the animals that Inspire them, much like the clip I made for my Joe's Pub gig to share why I perform in the subway.

Equine Advocates is in Chatham, NY where I had an amazing tour from none other than director and visionary Susan Wagner and her sister Karen.  I met Bobby the rescued New York City carriage horse, (read my blog about Bobby) now living in horse heaven, he looks fantastic and happy.  On November 6th, Equine Advocates is having an amazing benefit and dance performance with horses, if you're in the area should not be missed.  Actress Joan Allen is hosting, follow this link to learn more.

Later in the week on another gorgeous Fall day, (so beautiful in fact that I had a hard time imagining I would be back performing in Grand Central next Tuesday) I visited Spruce Ridge Farm owned and operated by Jeff Lick and Steve McCarthy. Watching the strangely other worldly looking Alpacas frolicing in the pastures was breathtaking. And talking with the guys about their inspiration for changing their lives dramatically to live and work on a farm, inspirational.

Filming and talking with Susan and her staff at Equine Advocates and Jeff and Steve with their Alpacas, gave me a deep sense of their shared commitment and love for animals. 

If you find yourself in Columbia County NY, I encourage you to call and visit these amazing farms.

Stay tuned for my latest clips of Inspirations from my visits!

Susan Wagner, Equine Advocates

Jeff Lick and Steve McCarthy, Spruce Ridge Farm